Arkansas Comic Con, the biggest event for its resident nerds, came back around this past weekend, packed with celebrity guests, vendors, informative hobby or question-and-answer panels, a video gaming area, and a cosplay contest. The convention was held from Sept. 12-14 in Little Rock at the Statehouse Convention Center. 

Over the weekend, I attended Arkansas Comic Con along with a few other students. We all were there for the whole weekend, while many others chose to go one day or just Saturday and Sunday. 

We arrived quite early on Friday as, from my previous experience there, lines tended to extend to hundreds of people within thirty minutes of opening. On that day, we were able to fully explore the vendor floor and meet some of the celebrity guests.

I originally lined up to meet Tom Kenny, the voice actor behind the titular character “SpongeBob SquarePants” and many other animated roles, but had to leave after he had a delayed arrival to the convention. 

While waiting, I went over to meet Yuri Lowenthal, an extremely prolific anime and gaming voice actor whose most notable role was as Sasuke Uchiha in “Naruto”.

Waiting in these meet and greet lines often took quite a bit, as the guests often took their time chatting with attendees and signing autographs. It was about a 15 or 20 minute wait until it was time for my turn, but the wait was worth it.

Lowenthal was an absolute pleasure to talk to. During our small conversation, we talked about one of the video game roles that I admired of his, and he reminisced about it with me. 

I had played so many games that had included his voice, some of which really helped me through my toughest times back in high school. One of those was in “Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4”, and that’s what I gushed about to him.

Lowenthal’s character in that game is still one of my favorites to this day, so talking to him and hearing he was just as passionate about it as me was an amazing experience. He even touched on the remake of the game coming out in the future, saying he was disappointed that he was not returning to voice him, which was a sentiment I shared with him.

While I could’ve stayed and talked for hours with him, sadly, I had to move on to make sure the line didn’t stagnate, but not before I got an autograph and selfie from him. While I don’t regret that meeting, my wallet may have because the autograph and selfie cost about $120 with an additional quote with his signature.

After the initial star-stricken drained from my head, my group and I walked around the vendor area nearby while still waiting for Kenny to make it to the convention.

In the vendor area, there was so much to explore and look for. There were artists selling pieces from their portfolio, local stores providing their goods for the attendees from outside the area and people reselling different video games or figurines.

In the sea of booths however, one extremely unique vendor stood out from the rest: “A Bug’s Life Creations.” Compared to the normal art or merchandise the con had, this vendor sold art of taxidermied bugs. 

They were either just the species of the bug in a small case, or as in our group’s favorite presentation, designed into a scene. Our favorite was a diorama of a beetle taking a shower, complete with all of the shower necessities. 

After wandering the vendor floor and probably spending too much money, we tried to go back to the line waiting for Kenny’s arrival to find that he was finally there, but the line had extended much farther than the others I had been in. 

We decided to wait to try to get into the meet-and-greet line until after I had my photo op with him later. When the time came for the photo op, we were lined up in a small area where curtains hid the background and photographers. 

As we waited, I started to get butterflies in my stomach knowing I was about to meet one of the people who shaped my childhood. However, as soon as it came to be my turn, all of that anxiety was squashed.

The con worker motioned for me to enter and I heard him greet me, and it struck a weird chord in my head. It felt like I was actually talking to Spongebob and I immediately was transported back to my childhood.

However, the photo op was brief in order to keep the line moving. As soon as I finished with my photo, our group scurried over to his meet and greet booth to wait for him to come back.

Even though he still had about five or ten minutes left at the photo op, there was already a somewhat long line forming. Still, I was willing to wait that long to get to talk with him.

Surprisingly, the line wasn’t as boring as one would think. I got to converse with the people in front of me and talk about different interests we had, including Spongebob.

The line in front of me slowly began to shrink as I continued chatting, and before long, I was the next one in line. I pulled out the item I wanted autographed, my DVD copy of “The Spongebob Squarepants Movie” that I’ve had since I was a kid, and carefully got the delicate cover out of the case.

I walked up to Kenny, and immediately, he gave the biggest smile imaginable.

“Hey! Welcome back! You haven’t changed since I saw you last!” he said.

My girlfriend in our group noted afterwards that as soon as he started talking to me, she saw a grin on my face that she had never seen before. I was so ecstatic to meet the guy whose voice still echoes in my head with goofy quotes. 

I was able to tell him how much I loved the show and how the movie in my hands resonates with me still to this day. He showed appreciation for my support and talked to me about how he’s been working on voice direction on the upcoming “Spongebob Squarepants” movie.

At the end, I was so giddy that I nearly forgot to say bye when the table assistant had to wave me off to keep the line moving. When I met Lowenthal, I thought that was my limit of feeling dazed, but my girlfriend had to lead me around for a few minutes before I came down from my momentary high from the meet and greet with Kenny.

Sadly, we realized it was almost closing time for the convention, so we made our way out the convention doors and back to our hotel. Looking back, I don’t think any other day at this convention or any event could measure up to the past few hours I spent there.

On the second day, we decided to go a bit later than the day before, which was a mistake since we chose to park closer to the convention rather than walking. The convention center parking had completely filled up by the time we got there, so we settled on a parking lot a little further back. 

After making it to the convention center, our group decided to take it easy on the vendor floor, especially considering how packed it was this afternoon compared to yesterday. We chose to go up to the next floor and spend some time in the gaming area.

While any gaming area is usually fine with me as long as I get to play, it was hard to focus on having fun while worrying about others waiting behind us to play. On the opposite side of the room, there was a whole shop set up by the people sponsoring the game area.

Despite being nearly broke, I still picked up some Magic: The Gathering cards, which was my most regretful purchase this weekend to me. After gaming and my illogical financial decision, our group found a place to sit down and chill amidst the huge crowds of attendees.

We realized we had run out of things to do at that point and panicked trying to think of how to fill the time left in the day. We missed the panels that would’ve interested us that day, and the upcoming ones were just as lackluster. 

After about thirty minutes of contemplating, we decided to leave and come back the next day to attend the remaining panels we wanted to see. It felt like a wasted day, but our last day definitely made up for it.

This time, we got there a little past the convention’s opening after we got some lunch at a nearby restaurant. With less people today than even Friday, we decided to let loose a bit more.

First, our group decided on the panel we wanted to go to, then we set off. We went around the vendor floor today, but instead of looking for merchandise, we looked for cool cosplays. My friends found a few who they got pictures with, but I chose not to unless I found someone that really stood out, which sadly didn’t happen that day. 

After walking around the floor for an hour or so, we made our way up early to the question and answer panel we chose beforehand. We wanted to make sure we got front row seats, which we were able to find with ease with our timing.

This panel had four voice actors from the iconic anime “Naruto”, including one I met the day before: Lowenthal. Despite forgetting most of the events of the anime, I still went to hear what they had to say about the show and other various topics.

Each actor came in at different times and had to leave at two-thirty firm because they had flights back to Los Angeles they needed to catch. However, that short time was still packed with laughs.

Questions led to stories from their time recording lines and their thoughts about various series they had worked on. They all had quite a bit to say about their backgrounds and experiences, and were for the most part hilarious.

One of my favorite stories came from Dave Whittenberg, who had voiced Kakashi in “Naruto”. It was from his time recording voice work for the TV show tie-in game “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut”. 

He talked about a part of the game where swearing caused his character to shoot lightning from his hands due to a malfunctioning shock collar. They had used up all of the curse words they could think of and needed new material.

To get some help on the matter, they called up one of the creators of the TV show. His idea was to write down all of the main swear words they could think of, then put together as many combinations as possible to make more lines.

After a few more of their answers to questions and stories, the time came for them to hurry back to LA. With the conclusion of this panel, our group decided to make our way back home to Jonesboro. 

The whole weekend was one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had. All of the celebrities and people I met, all of the vendors and art I was able to explore through, and the last panel of the weekend have all left a profound impact on me.

I’m beyond excited to attend next year and encourage anyone interested in pop culture to take a peek as well, whether it’s for a single day or the whole weekend. It’s an experience where you can meet new friends and explore your favorite media with others who share your interests.  

Just make sure your bank account is ready for the burden it will take on, even if you don’t regret it in the end. 

Categories: Life